The morning sun shone through the small window; subsequently striking both Fei's and Lucian's eyes. Just for a mere moment, they lied there. In a few seconds, loud thuds shook their bedroom door. This caused Lucian to shoot up along with Fei.
In a sequence, three bangs. It stopped for a moment, then repeated itself a few more times. Lucian glanced at Fei whose hands covered her ears, then glared at the door. Finally, the bangs ceased but a voice called out as he stood up.
"Oh~ Little Lucian, Little Fei~~! It's time to wake up~!" Bronya's voice resounded through their bedroom door. "It's mornin-" She cut herself off when the door flew open. "Good morning, Little Luci-"
With the door slammed shut in front of her, Bronya scratched the back of her head. 'Looks like that wasn't the way to wake them up… Hehe.' Before her chance at assaulting the door rolled around, Lucian appeared. His eyebrows furrowed and an exhausted frown carved onto his face.
"What do you want?" He grumbled, frustration exuded from his voice. "It's early in the morning, why are you pounding on the door?"
"Well~ I just wanted to let you know, that guard we captured last night- Rothie and I turned him into the adventurer's guild." Bronya explained with a smirk on her face. Obviously, she felt satisfied with what she had done; both turning the guard in and harassing their door. She set her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out.
Hearing her response, Lucian rolled his eyes and murmured; "And you could have told us that without banging on our door." What is with her? He questioned helplessly. Was she actually this playful, or is this just an act? With numerous questions flowing through his brain, he stared at her with an eyebrow constantly twitching. "Is that all?"
"Nope~"
"Then, wait outside." Not giving her a chance to speak again, he slammed the door. He heard her footsteps solemnly distance itself from the door.
'This is going to be a long day.'
Once sufficiently calmed down, they took their time to get dressed. Fei, switching into a cleaner skirt and tights. And a simple button up shirt that she had bought a year ago. As for Lucian, he only bothered to change into a long sleeved shirt.
To their surprise, Bronya listened. She leaned against their home's front, impatiently tapping her foot and humming a tune. Her partner only kept his head to the sky.
"Ah~ Took you two long enough." Bronya called out to them. "Did ya two have some 'fun'?" She continued and finger quoted the word, 'fun'. Fei jumped upon hearing her question. "Caaalm down, I'm just kidding. Unless~..."
"Get to the point, long ears."
"Fiine, Little Lucian, Little Fei. We would like to know more about you two."
"And what is with the sudden interest-?"
"Well, we're going to be partners in the raid." Bronya said, fixing her posture and swinging one hand out to the side. "As partners we'll need to know about each other's weaknesses and strengths. Ain' that right, Little Old Rothie?"
"Don't call me that. Yes."
"Thank you~ Anywho, let's spend the day together. That's one way of getting to know each other."
"Did you have that whole spheal planned? And do you even know what to do?"
"Maybe- Who knows, but we need to. If we don't get to know each other, we'll just fall apart trying to do that." Bronya elaborated. Afterwards her body jumped as if a lightning bolt struck her, she turned towards Roth. "Rothe~ Do you have the coin purse? We need to get them their part of the request!"
Roth shook his head before digging into his pocket, and pulling out a small string bag. Not bothering to go through it, he threw it at Bronya. Due to his sudden movements, it tossed around in the air, once and twice. On the third drop, she barely caught it.
"Here's that 1 silver you tossed at me." Bronya stated as she held a silver coin between her pointer and middle fingers. "Only worry about spending it on gear, that old fart and I will take care of the expenses today." She smirked, obviously proud of herself.
Lucian begrudgingly accepted the coin and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Anyways, since it's all planned out, just follow us! Our first stop, let's grab some grub."
With an enthusiastic whistle, they set off.
The route already screamed where they were going. Within expectations, they directed towards the adventurers' guild; but the only detour headed straight for Ela's tavern. Inside, they were quickly greeted with a disheartened- yet forceful upbeat greetings from a waitress.
After everything was dropped at the table, they began eating. At least everyone that wasn't named 'Bronya'. As a consequence for her rambling, a piece of food struck right between her eyes.
Learning her lesson, she finished her food in a few gulps and waited for everyone else to finish. She paid for the bill, and left with everyone behind her.
'Where is she taking us?' Both Fei and Lucian wondered.
********************
"Ahhh~ It's so nice, finally a field!" Bronya exclaimed, she trudged through the grassy field. Flowers, weeds were assorted into varied colors. Purple, yellow, some were red. Not far from them, was one part of a forest that surrounded the walls of the kingdom. "It's nice to get a break, after a stressful situation, am I right?" She turned her head to look at the others, this time she had a small smile.
"Yeah, anyways- what are we doing out here? Just to go on a little walk?" Lucian popped up, He had so many questions- Like the demi-human next to him. 'She really has a bad habit of not saying ANYTHING.'
I-I don't— she's… thinking– weirdly.Don't - to say out– ud
Fei's broken words darted around his mind. He tilted his head, a layer of confusion was visible on his face. Can- read- thoughts… These three words popped in his mind.
'Wait- you can read my thoughts?'
Ye-s
"Yoo-hoo, earth to the both of you! Stop telepathically talking to each other! And looks like I was right on the gold!"
"R-Right, what's the purpose of being out here?"
"Well, it's not what you're really thinking… I can tell just by you looking at me, you're thinking." Bronya said, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. ""She's probably thinking something weird, crazy or all of the above." Is that right?" Her question and assumption were spot on, as far as she could tell from the sudden sweat forming on Lucian's brow. "It's a verrrrry simple reason, I could say for the both of us; Rothie and I are curious about how Little Fei's magic works."
"True, in exchange we will showcase some of our abilities and skills."
"Oh and Little Lucian, you can train with Roth too."
"Eh?"
"We can talk about that later~" Bronya commented and turned her attention to Fei. "Little Fei, do you mind showing us a bit about your magic?"
Fei, upon hearing her request, slid behind Lucian. This warranted Bronya to look behind him. Her eyes radiated immense curiosity, and excitement. Bit by bit, they circulated around Lucian.
A minute of this continued, till her patience wore thin. "C'mooon, Little Fei, it's no secret now. Ya don't need to be so scared!" She exclaimed whilst walking backwards. "Just, separate from your little boyfriend for a moment…"
C-C-Can… We- her… Fei asked Lucian. She felt her cheeks become warmer after bronya's slight tease. Alongside her heart spiking in pace.
'I think we can, she doesn't seem to be like "those" people.' Lucian responded, admittedly he felt his heart jump but kept a calm and composed look in front of Fei.
She slowly stepped out from behind Lucian, her hands cupped together and gaze towards the ground. Seeing her anxiety sprawled over, Bronya let out a breath. "Hey Rothie, why don't we showcase a bit about us. Y'know, since we invited them out and all?"
"Sure."
"Can you give more of a response? At least sound interesting, ya know?"
"Long ears first…"
"Fineee. Ahem, we'll go first for you two." Bronya said whilst snapping her fingers. "As you already know, with the first request we did, I can set traps. Do you two remember that?" Seeing their heads in unison go up and down she followed up with, "Good. Little Lucian, come here for a second please."
Once to the side of her, Bronya poked his shoulder. After she removed her finger, a small bead of light appeared where she had touched.
"Go ahead and touch it." She took a few strides back.
He visibly gulped. Cold sweat dripped down his face.
"Touch it, it won't hurt you."
Slowly, Lucian moved his arm up. His arm started to vibrate with slight fear. Just as his hand hovered right over the bead of light, a massive gust of wind roared in his ears.
Suddenly, the sky seemed closer, and his body felt weightless. 'Is this how I die?' His mind wondered as everything clicked. An odd calmness overrode every nerve he had; it did not last long as gravity pulled his ascension downwards. 'Goodbye cruel world…' He amusedly thought.
His descent ended as he softly landed back onto the grass. Thus, Bronya's little experiment ended; back first and nose to the sky, he had landed on the ground.
"Every trap I set, I can decide its effects. That one, I apologize for not warning you Little Lucian; sent you flying backwards. As you obviously fell, it slowed your descent." Bronya briefed them once Lucian got back to his feet. "This is the only one I can show you, the others aren't that interesting."
A small explanation ensued from her; a hereditary skill, from her wood elf genealogy. The ability to never get lost in any environment. Another one she brought up.
"I have another…" Bronya unhooked her axe and began to draw a line. "I can map out an area, although it's small." She drew a small circle, then a larger one just after it. "This is how it looks. On that tiny field, I can set traps; works in tandem, interesting right?" She raised her head and smugly smiled.
All of her audience watched with interest; but quickly that died down when she went into detail.
"And- Ah, forget about it, you already look bored." She ended her explanation with her arms crossed and mouth curled into a frown. "Since I went, Little Fei can you show us a bit? Old grumpy over here isn't much different in terms of interest."
"Would be interesting if you didn't give a long explanation for everything."
"Hah?"
"Map crap, see crap trap, and able to set crap trap. That's what you said."
"I-I did not say that! What is with you?!"
"Hey kid." Roth called out to Lucian. "Want to test out one of my skills?" He beckoned to Lucian; once they were next to each other he pointed at Bronya. "I can take away pain from a party member, why don't you go-"
"NO! WE ARE NOT DOING THAT! NO!"
"Trust me, Long Ear-"
"NO!! I WON'T DO THAT!" Bronya screamed, crossing her arms in an 'X' and shook her head vigorously. "I AM NOT GOING TO TRUST YOU LIKE LAST TIME!"
'What did he–'
"That jerk deactivated that skill and had someone punch me in the face!" She stated with her finger directing towards Roth. "Don't give me that damned 'is she serious?' look you old man! You know what you did!"
Roth crossed his arms, closed his eyes and let out a low sigh. He then turned his head to look at Lucian. "Go ahead, I know you want to do that to her." He said whilst giving him a thumbs up. As he finished his assurance, a white line formed between him and Bronya.
A loud yelp came from Bronya. She began to beg him to stop what he's doing. Her begs turned into whines when Lucian got near. When he pulled back his arm, she backed up. The white line dimmed and eventually became transparent the further she got.
"W-W-wait Lucian don-" She yelled, and lost her footing. "W-WWA-" Her arms flew up and covered her entire head.
Just before he could launch his fist forward, Roth let out a cough. "Ahem, ahem. Don't, Long Ears over there is terrible with pain. Do that and she'll be crying till next month."
Lucian let out a disappointed groan as he pulled his fist back. He went to Fei's side and tapped his foot.
Bronya mumbled a few curses under her breath, glaring at both her bullies. After half an hour lapsed, she felt her anger dissipate.
"Little Fei, are you able to show us now… We showed a little bit about ourselves…" She inquired, her latter sentence trailed off as she side eyed Roth.
"Y-Yes…" Fei murmured. "U-Um… I-I-I can't, can't really e-explain h-how it works…"
"Hm? How? Wait, I just noticed. Where's your staff?"
C-Can we… Trus-
'They already know this much, we can't hide it.'
Fei gritted her teeth. A frigid air wafted through the field. In front of all of their eyes, a pillar of mist shot out of the ground. Underneath, a pillar of ice consumed the spewing mist.
"W-Woah!"
Shining under the noon sun, bouncing light all around it. An ocean blue pillar of ice fully formed in mere seconds, two mesmerized onlookers stood paralyzed.
"Y-You don't need your staff at all…? W-What is this-"
"U-Uhm… I, I wouldn't t-touch that…"
"W-Why- AH! That's-"
"'Course it would be cold, Long Ears… It's a flippin' pillar of ice…"
Fei clutched her left arm after they looked at her with eyes full of curiosity. "I-I don't.. K-Know h-how I, I can do this…"
"Either way, this is amazing… Can you do more than just pillars and chains? Hm… Like-" Bronya tapped her chin and engorged herself in ideas. She continued like this for a few seconds. An imaginary lightbulb set off just above her head. Her finger reached the sky as she proclaimed, "I have an idea!" Her proclamation was followed up with the unhooking of her axe and immediately appearing just in front of Fei.
"Little Fei, if possible can you try to replicate this?! If you can- You're amazing!"
"I-"
She snapped her head to look at Lucian, her entire body vibrated. However, he grinned, and nodded his head. His attempt at trying to support her worked slightly, causing her to take a deep breath and turned back to Bronya.
"I-I-I-I can, can try…"
Once examined thoroughly, Fei raised her hands. With the axe burned into her memory, she poured her mana into her hands. White ice slowly emerged from under her palms. Soon, the handle was created. Next, the shoulder of the axe. Intricately, ice weaved into itself. Alas, it was finally created.
Bronya stared with sparkles in her eyes. With a small thump, she dropped her axe and asked with shaky hands. "Can I t-touch it?"
"Y-Yes…"
Cautiously she wrapped her fingers around the wooden-like handle. Unlike its appearance, it was warm; much like the original. This caused her entire body to seize.
"U-Uhm… H-how- You know what… Nevermind-"
I-I don'- to explain – them
'You're doing great! Look at her face, she's completely shocked…' Underneath Lucian's thoughts, was a massive wave of pride. Unbeknownst to him, Fei heard his next words; 'that's the way it should be.'
They watched as Bronya swung it around. Just by her child-like grin, she was having a blast. After a little while longer, she dashed and grabbed her actual axe. One serious question entered her mind: how durable is this? Fragile like her previous magic? Only one way to find out~
She raised her axe high above her head, and swung down with all her might.
A loud "aww" rang out. She picked the now beheaded ice axe.
Her little oopsie cascaded into a range of more weapons being created. An ice bow, which Bronya promptly destroyed by pulling the string too far back. Another axe, she attempted throwing at a nearby tree- shattered on impact.
Whilst she became a child in a candy store, the two guys watched from the side.
"Hey, Kid."
"Hm? What is it?" Lucian responded without looking away from them.
"Want to show you some things. Might help you in future battles."
After some distance was made, Roth ordered him to pull out his weapon.
"Good, now come at me like I was that guard last night." Roth commanded as he bent his knees, and extended his left arm outwards.
At the sound of a booming crack, Lucian rushed towards him. Within reach, he thrusted at Roth's jugular.
In the next instant, he found himself flat on his back; arm within the grasp of his opponent. Pain pulsated from where he was grabbed, causing his jaw to tighten.
"Predictable." Roth muttered. He yanked Lucian to his feet . "Go again."
One small breather later, he set off again. Once again, he closed the distance between them.
'Same mistake.'
His dagger shot towards its target a second time. At its last moment, it retracted; only to get caught by a gigantic gloved hand.
"Too slow."
Just as he reeled his arm back, Lucian exclaimed. "Think again!" Unfortunately- it was true, he was too slow. His fist was easily caught.
"Ow-" He groaned. He found himself, again staring at the sky. 'What a familiar ceiling…' The pain in his arms pulsed ten fold, and Roth stood above him; knife in hand, acquainted with a disappointed look. "Ow, ow… Do you know how to hold back when training?"
"Look kid, I am. You're just too weak at the moment to see it. You need a new weapon, and need to strengthen yourself if you want to survive the raid."
"Or you're just too strong… Look at you, you tower over everyone. And your arms could feed a whole pack of wolves for a year."
"Came from hard work."
"Whatever…"
'Second time in three days, huh?' Roth thought, tossing the dagger in his hand to Lucian's side. "Get up, we're going to continue."
"No. I can barely move my fingers."
"Weak."
Seeing as there was no use to continue anymore, he turned his back towards Lucian, continuing his watching from before.
Bronya swung a sword widely in her hands. With no coordination or knowledge of how to, she looked like a bumbling idiot, narrowly missing her skin, fingers and ears. As well as smiling like a psychopath. The scene unfolded, and a random idea popped into his mind.
"Hey Long Ear, can you try something?"
"H-H-Huh?"
"Copy this sword, and try to shoot it forward."
"U-U-Uhm… I-I don't know, know…." Fei responded honestly. She scratched her cheek, and avoided making eye contact with him.
"Try it."
"O-Okay….."
After she thoroughly analyzed his sword, she took a few steps back. Wind swept her hair, and she raised her right arm to the sky. Above her head and far back, the formation of his sword began. First the blade, spanning just half her height and girthier than two of her arms together. The intricate details carved into it weren't there, just a flat and smooth blade.
Just a second later, it was fully replicated. An attempt at pushing it forward was made; but gravity had other ideas, it plummeted to the ground, shattering into countless shards of ice.
Roth sighed in disappointment. 'Still a newbie, I shouldn't keep my hopes up; even if she is different than 'them'.' His thoughts echoed. Ramming off track, he witnessed Fei clutching her chest and curling into a ball.
"Kid, go check on her. Long Ears! Let's take a break, these newbies need it!"
"Huh?? Understood, you can go ahead too, since your old bones can't take it!"